Tributes are also planned for several other TV stars, including Sopranos star James Gandolfini, but Klugman's son Adam Klugman has come out to slam Emmy organisers for excluding his father from the ceremony.

According to son Adam, the fact that the late actor will not be honored on tonight's Emmys is "criminal".

He told The Hollywood Reporter: "My dad was at the inception of television and helped build it in the early days.

"It's an insult and it really seems typical of this youth-centric culture that has an extremely short attention span and panders to only a very narrow demographic."

Adam seemed to take particular offense to the inclusion of Monteith, best known for his lead role on Glee.

He added: "What about the people who should be introduced to somebody like my father? I don't mean to say anything disparaging about Cory, but he was a kid who had won no Emmys and it was a self-induced tragedy."